According to Time magazine, “Hundreds, if not thousands, of new labs are now conducting high-risk biological experiments in the U.S., with at least 15,000 technicians working daily on the world's deadliest pathogens — the vast majority of them for the first time. Though FBI background checks are required for people who handle so-called select agents — a government-drawn list of 73 highly lethal pathogens, such as Ebola, ricin and monkeypox — the vetting focuses on security, not bio-safety competence. Yet most lab accidents are due to simple human error, says Dr. Gigi Gronvall, Senior Associate at the Center for Biosecurity at the University of Pittsburgh. Newbies to the lab are typically indoctrinated to safe lab habits through a mentor-apprentice process, but the recent, rapid expansion of bio-labs has stretched thin the pool of experienced lab workers.
The most dangerous research is done in the country's Level 3 and Level 4 labs. Since the anthrax letter attacks of 2001, which killed five people and infected another 17, the government has spent billions on bioterror and infectious-disease research, and on building the high-risk labs that house those experiments. But nobody knows exactly how many such labs exist today. A 2005 survey by the National Institute of Health, which funds much of the country's bio-defense studies, tallied 277 Level 3 labs in the U.S.; meanwhile, a Homeland Security and Health and Human Services report the same year found more than 600. The GAO's Rhodes told Congress, however, the number is "surely in the thousands." Level 4 labs, which handle the most dangerous pathogens — those for which there are no known therapeutics or vaccines, such as smallpox, Ebola and other hemorrhagic fevers — are fewer in number, partly because they're very expensive. Before 2001 the U.S. had five Level 4 labs; now there are 15 in operation or coming on line soon, including the planned $470 million National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF), which will cover as much acreage as five Wal-Mart stores. On the short list of states in contention to host the NBAF is Mississippi, which has zero prior experience with such high-risk research. "While some expansion [of labs] may be justified," says Rhodes, "unwarranted expansion without adequate oversight is proliferation, not expansion."
Worse, there is no centralized regulatory body that oversees bio-labs or their work — 17 federal agencies are involved in biological research in some way, but no single agency is tasked with tracking and managing the risks. "Several agencies have a need to know the number and the location of these labs to support their missions," says Rhodes, but no agency actually has this information. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has primary responsibility for monitoring the use of select agents — but according to critics, it's working with an outdated list. The last revision to the list occurred in 2005, with the addition of the re-created influenza virus that killed some 40 million people in 1918. Still missing from the register: SARS, Hantavirus and other deadly viruses, which, as a consequence, are subject to virtually no regulation at all.
Lack of oversight means lack of policing, which often leads to underreporting of potentially fatal accidents. Labs are required by law to report mishaps with select agents immediately to the CDC, but that doesn't always happen. Case in point: Last year, a bio-lab worker at Texas A&M University became infected with the deadly brucellosis virus. The university did not report the case and may never have admitted it if an industry gadfly, Edward Hammond of the Sunshine Project, had not persuaded a local district attorney to strong-arm the university into giving up its internal records. The CDC then dispatched investigators who uncovered a host of other violations, including unauthorized experiments, failure to report three other infections of Q fever, failure to have all technicians vetted by the FBI, and missing pathogens and infected animals. "Unfortunately, the CDC's August investigation revealed not only shortcomings on Texas A&M's part, but also shortcomings on the part of CDC's own oversight," said Bart Stupak, chairman of the House Oversight and Investigations Committee. "It turns out that the CDC had inspected the very same Texas A&M lab prior to the disclosure of these incidents and found only minor problems."
Responding to intense criticism, the CDC is looking into forming external peer review panels to re-examine select-agent regulations and lab-safety procedures. The agency may also modify reporting requirements — possibly allowing some measure of anonymity, for example, to minimize disincentives for revealing accidents. "This is a relatively young program [which] is providing much improved oversight, but clearly there is more than we can do," says Richard Besser, director for the CDC's Coordinating Office for Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response, who defends the recent lab expansion in the U.S., saying it will lead to better diagnostics and make next-generation vaccines accessible to more Americans.
But many experts disagree, calling into question the focus of biological research in the U.S. — on anthrax and plague instead of, say, drug-resistant tuberculosis or the hepatitis viruses — which may be doing the country a disservice. In a 2005 open letter, organized by Richard H. Ebright, a Rutgers University chemistry professor, 758 American microbiologists complained that NIH priorities favoring research of "high bio-defense significance but low public-heath significance" were misguided and jeopardized public health progress.”
It's OK, we’re scientists and we have white coats, so that means we know what we’re doing.
Headline of the day
Elephants' Fear Of Angry Bees Could Help To Protect Them
Research indicates that getting dirty may lift your mood——no not like that.
Science Daily — Bacteria found in the soil activated a group of neurons that produce the brain chemical serotonin.
When the team looked closely at the brains of mice, they found that treatment with M. vaccae activated a group of neurons that produce the brain chemical serotonin.
found in the soil, altered their behavior in a way similar to that produced by antidepressant drugs, reports research published in the latest issue of Neuroscience.
These findings, identified by researchers at the University of Bristol and colleagues at University College London, aid the understanding of why an imbalance in the immune system leaves some individuals vulnerable to mood disorders like depression.
Dr Chris Lowry, lead author on the paper from Bristol University, said: "These studies help us understand how the body communicates with the brain and why a healthy immune system is important for maintaining mental health. They also leave us wondering if we shouldn't all be spending more time playing in the dirt."
Interest in the project arose after human cancer patients being treated with the bacteria Mycobacterium vaccae unexpectedly reported increases in their quality of life. Lowry and his colleagues reasoned that this effect could be caused by activation of neurons in the brain that contained serotonin.
When the team looked closely at the brains of mice, they found that treatment with M. vaccae activated a group of neurons that produce the brain chemical serotonin. The lack of serotonin in the brain is thought to cause depression in people, thus M. vaccae's effects on the behavior of mice may be due to increasing the release of serotonin in parts of the brain that regulate mood.
The new research supports this hypothesis, but future studies will be designed to determine if M. vaccae, other bacteria, or pharmaceutical compounds have antidepressant properties through activation of this group of serotonin neurons.
After all, eating library paste is so declasse.
They also have fewer wardrobe issues.
Chimps choose more rationally than humans
LEIPZIG, Germany, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- German researchers have demonstrated chimpanzees make choices that protect their self-interest more consistently than do humans.
Researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig studied the chimp's choices by using an economic game with two players. In the game, a human or chimpanzee who receives something of value can offer to share it with another.
If the proposed share is rejected, neither player gets anything.
Humans typically make offers close to 50 percent of the reward. They also reject as unfair offers of significantly less than half of the reward, even though this choice means they get nothing.
The study, however, showed chimpanzees reliably made offers of substantially less than 50 percent, and accepted offers of any size, no matter how small.
The researchers concluded chimpanzees do not show a willingness to make fair offers and reject unfair ones. In this way, they protect their self interest and are unwilling to pay a cost to punish someone they perceive as unfair.
The study appeared in the Oct. 5 issue of the journal Science.
No offer refused, we make it up on volume.
If elected my first act will be to pardon Rosie Ruiz
Politician disqualified from marathon
Berlin Marathon officials claim he took two shortcuts
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- After a humiliating defeat in Mexico's presidential election last year, Roberto Madrazo appeared to be back on top: He'd won the men's age-55 category in the Sept. 30 Berlin marathon with a surprising time of 2:41:12.
But Madrazo couldn't leave his reputation for shady dealings in the dust. Race officials said Monday they disqualified him for apparently taking a short cut -- an electronic tracking chip indicates he skipped two checkpoints in the race and would have needed superhuman speed to achieve his win.
According to the chip, Madrazo took only 21 minutes to cover nine miles -- faster than any human can run. "Not even the world record holder can go that fast," race director Mark Milde said.
In a photograph taken as he crossed the finish line, Madrazo wears an ear-to-ear grin and pumps his arms in the air. But he also wore a wind breaker, hat and long, skintight running pants -- too much clothing, some said, for a person who had just run 26.2 miles in 60-degree weather.
Madrazo's outfit caught the attention of the New York-based marathon photographer Victor Sailer, who alerted race organizers that they might have a cheater on their hands.
"It was so obvious to me, if you look at everyone else that's in the picture, everyone's wearing T-shirts and shorts, and the guy's got a jacket on and a hat or whatever," Sailer said. "I looked at it and was like, wait a second."
The world record for 15 kilometers -- the distance Madrazo covered in 21 minutes -- is 41 minutes 29 seconds, by Felix Limo of Kenya.
At a Mexico City taxi stand on Monday, drivers Octavio Elizalde Cerrillo and Roberto Valle Rivera poked fun at Madrazo's troubles. They, like other Mexicans their age, lived under decades of uninterrupted rule by Madrazo's Institutional Revolutionary Party, which often resorted to fraud to win elections, leaving many deeply distrustful of politicians.
"If he's a cheat at one thing, he'll cheat at anything," said Valle Rivera, 44.
"If you're going to steal, you'll steal here, in the United States, in Europe, everywhere in the world," Elizalde Cerrillo, 41, added with a smile.
Madrazo's reputation at home was already tarnished. In 1996, Mexico's attorney general confirmed reports that he had spent tens of millions of dollars more than the legal campaign spending limit in his winning 1994 bid for the Tabasco state governorship.
While under investigation on those charges, Madrazo told police he was kidnapped for seven hours, beaten and threatened with death by unidentified assailants. Police couldn't find evidence of any such abduction, and many saw it as a sympathy ploy.
During the 2006 presidential campaign, opponents plastered walls with posters reading, "Do you believe Madrazo? I don't either!"
In June, Madrazo completed the San Diego marathon with a time of 3:44:06 -- more than an hour slower than his time in Berlin, Mexican newspaper Reforma reported. Madrazo's office did not return phone calls from The Associated Press.
Race director Milde noted that Madrazo may have intended to drop out and taken a shortcut to reach the start-finish area.
"I don't know if it was his intention or accidental: I try to believe in the good of people," Milde said. But the fact that Madrazo appears to be celebrating in the photograph could go against this theory, he added.
Some 32,500 people finished the race and about 40 are disqualified every year, Milde said.
And you find such behavior surprising in a politician?
So, do all the little chromosomes look like him?
From the Guardian:
Craig Venter, the controversial DNA researcher involved in the race to decipher the human genetic code, has built a synthetic chromosome out of laboratory chemicals and is poised to announce the creation of the first new artificial life form on Earth.
The announcement, which is expected within weeks and could come as early as Monday at the annual meeting of his scientific institute in San Diego, California, will herald a giant leap forward in the development of designer genomes. It is certain to provoke heated debate about the ethics of creating new species and could unlock the door to new energy sources and techniques to combat global warming.
Mr Venter told the Guardian he thought this landmark would be "a very important philosophical step in the history of our species. We are going from reading our genetic code to the ability to write it. That gives us the hypothetical ability to do things never contemplated before".
The Guardian can reveal that a team of 20 top scientists assembled by Mr Venter, led by the Nobel laureate Hamilton Smith, has already constructed a synthetic chromosome, a feat of virtuoso bio-engineering never previously achieved. Using lab-made chemicals, they have painstakingly stitched together a chromosome that is 381 genes long and contains 580,000 base pairs of genetic code.
The DNA sequence is based on the bacterium Mycoplasma genitalium which the team pared down to the bare essentials needed to support life, removing a fifth of its genetic make-up. The wholly synthetically reconstructed chromosome, which the team have christened Mycoplasma laboratorium, has been watermarked with inks for easy recognition.
It is then transplanted into a living bacterial cell and in the final stage of the process it is expected to take control of the cell and in effect become a new life form. The team of scientists has already successfully transplanted the genome of one type of bacterium into the cell of another, effectively changing the cell's species. Mr Venter said he was "100% confident" the same technique would work for the artificially created chromosome.
The new life form will depend for its ability to replicate itself and metabolise on the molecular machinery of the cell into which it has been injected, and in that sense it will not be a wholly synthetic life form. However, its DNA will be artificial, and it is the DNA that controls the cell and is credited with being the building block of life.
Mr Venter said he had carried out an ethical review before completing the experiment. "We feel that this is good science," he said. He has further heightened the controversy surrounding his potential breakthrough by applying for a patent for the synthetic bacterium.
Pat Mooney, director of a Canadian bioethics organisation, ETC group, said the move was an enormous challenge to society to debate the risks involved. "Governments, and society in general, is way behind the ball. This is a wake-up call - what does it mean to create new life forms in a test-tube?"
He said Mr Venter was creating a "chassis on which you could build almost anything. It could be a contribution to humanity such as new drugs or a huge threat to humanity such as bio-weapons".
Mr Venter believes designer genomes have enormous positive potential if properly regulated. In the long-term, he hopes they could lead to alternative energy sources previously unthinkable. Bacteria could be created, he speculates, that could help mop up excessive carbon dioxide, thus contributing to the solution to global warming, or produce fuels such as butane or propane made entirely from sugar.
"We are not afraid to take on things that are important just because they stimulate thinking," he said. "We are dealing in big ideas. We are trying to create a new value system for life. When dealing at this scale, you can't expect everybody to be happy."
When ever anybody starts talking about an ethical approach to creating a new life form, I can't help but feel that it's eventually going to deteriorate into cheap sex.
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